ALONG THE WAY: David Dix

Sunday

Mar 23, 2014 at 4:00 AM

Lori Wemhoff, executive director of the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce, and City Manager Dave Ruller at Tuesday's Bowman Breakfast came up with a creative way to thank Kent State University President Lester Lefton, who retires June 30, for his great support and leadership in the effort to rebuild downtown Kent.

Recalling the teamwork between the city and the university that made so much of the downtown rejuvenation possible, Ruller declared, "Relations between the university and the city have never been better."

He and Lori then presented Lefton with a four-pound sledgehammer, mounted on a plaque by McKay Bricker Framing and Gallery. The hammer, they told the president, symbolized the breaking down of barriers between the city and the university.

The barriers dropped literally because Kent State financed the creation of the Esplanade, the attractive walk-way that joins the campus and the downtown, buying up and demolishing several houses that had become student rentals for the project. Dedicated last October as the Lester Lefton Esplanade, that name quickly led to the coining of the nickname, "Lesplanade."

The actual wording on the plaque says: "In recognition of your leadership and commitment to knocking down barriers and in their place building connections to strengthen and ensure the continuing positive Town/Gown relationship between the City of Kent and Kent State University. With gratitude and wishes for continued success from the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce and City of Kent."

President Lefton smiled at the recognition and noted the heft of the sledgehammer.

Touting the close relationship between the university and the city, Ruller showed "before and after" slides that made many of us realize how bad Kent's downtown had looked, compared with now. The Power Point presentation underscored what can be accomplished if, as Mayor Jerry Fiala often points out, people team up and work together.

In the eight years of the Lefton Administration, Kent has been transformed and a similar transformation is under way on campus. Others played important roles too, of course. Ron Burbick invested $22 million in developing Acorn Alley, the Phoenix Block and Acorn Corners, the old Kent hotel. Congressman Tim Ryan shepherded PARTA's TIGER grant,which resulted in the parking deck and Multi-Modal Transportation Center. Ron Pizzuti worked with the Kent State Foundation to bring the new KSU Hotel into being. Kent City Council took on the risk of guaranteeing debt without which the Fairmount project might not have happened. Portage County lent its support, in the end, by designating East Main Street as the location for Portage County's soon-to-open Kent Municipal Court branch.

The history books will treat President Lefton favorably. The man has been a visionary and a builder. Kent State was a good university when he took over, but his initiatives have kicked it up a notch. I hope the upward trend continues under the new president, Beverly Warren.

Broader impact of 'new' Kent

Looks do matter.

That was part of the message imparted Tuesday at the Bowman Breakfast at Kent State when a panelists of local industrialists extolled the downtown improvements.

Al Green, president and CEO of Kent Displays, said the positive changes have helped him compete for talent that might have gone off to Silicon Valley. The improved lifestyle of Kent and its affordability, in contrast with the higher costs of the West Coast, make the Kent area attractive to up and comers, he told the nearly 300 at the Bowman Breakfast Tuesday.

Kent Displays makes a product that depends on liquid crystal display panels, the science for them benefitting from the Liquid Crystals Institute. Most of us probably do not appreciate the prestige of the Liquid Crystals Institute, but here's what Green said:

"I travel in Asia for my company. The people in my field in Asia may not know of Cleveland or Akron, but they've heard of the Kent State University Liquid Crystals Institute."

Matt French, vice president and general manager or the Precision Motors division of Ametek, said the availability of space in the Fairmount project for his company is what kept Ametek from leaving Kent. uch of his company's business involves exporting overseas so bringing customers to Kent and hosting them in the new Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center is an on-going process, he said.

Robin Kilbride, chief executive officer and president of Smithers Oasis, which sells floral foam and other plant products in 140 countries around the world, likewise is regularly hosting international visitors in the KSU hotel.

Nick Sucic, comptroller for the Davey Tree Expert Co., said his company, with 7,500 employees throughout the United States and Canada, decided to remain in Kent when it built its corporate headquarters on North Mantua Street 30 years ago, but, having remained in Kent, it very much appreciates the downtown upgrades, Davey uses the Hotel and Conference Center for training too and moved its fast-growing Resource Group division into Fairmount.

As Fairmount tenants, Ametek, Smithers Oasis and the Davey Tree have helped anchor the success of the downtown renovation.

Architecture college on move

The College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State, with its new building nearly ready for construction on the Esplanade, is the recipient of much good news lately and at the recent Kent United Service Organization's annual dinner, its dean, Douglas Steidl, proudly highlighted some of that news to his listeners.

Alumni and friends, he said, during the last two years have donated $9 million to the College. Entering students have the highest average ACT-SAT scores of any college of school within Kent State. Of the 25 largest architectural firms in the greater Cleveland area, 23 have graduates of the college as principals in those firms.

The college, he said, is adding five new faculty member with doctorates in Architecture and the excitement over the new building, "helped us land the applicants we wanted."

The College and the Urban Design Collaborative staff work side by side to improve communities and have done charrettes (a fancy French word for urban design projects) for many communities including several in Ohio.

I think the Kent master plan of 2004 benefitted from the Urban Design Collaborative.For a reasonable sum, it would probably do similar work for other communities in Portage County.

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